


Big Cats at Play

by teaceylon



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Animal Transformation, Dialogue, Dialogue Fic, Fluff, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 03:11:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21264122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaceylon/pseuds/teaceylon
Summary: 1. 2. One shot of drivers morphing into animals. Fluff.3. Team principals are good/bad pet owners.





	1. The Lion

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [We're all Animals (literally)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15581586) by [Quagswagging](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quagswagging/pseuds/Quagswagging). 

Esteban was not impressed when _THE_ lion greeted him at the door.

Upon seeing the 'intruder', the lion rushed to the door and roared, declaring his ground, hostile and grumpy. It sounded threatening, and with those big paws powerful enough to smash a man’s skull, it stepped firmly, closing in and tried to scare Esteban off, pushing the man into the corner.

“For fuck sake, I’m not here for you.”

Esteban rolled his eyes, trying to wave the lion away, but to no avail, as the lion took it further and bore his sharp teeth with a fierce growl.

“Charles, you’re in the media pan in 15. Seriously, get argh, ouch! THIS! Get this out of the way.”

He stepped an inch closer, calling to his target, the curled up figure at the other end of the room, but the lion moved accordingly, blocking his sight, seemingly protective of something hidden.

“Max?” The pile of clothed ball moved slightly, voice with a thick, sleepy toned French accent.

The lion turned around instantly, pacing towards brown messy hair Charles, wagging his tail proudly and snuggled against the young Monegasque.

Charles, still half asleep, smiled contently, and cuddled the over-2-meter big cat, hugging it by the neck, resting himself comfortably on its back.

“……You do realise it’s a lion.” Esteban grumbled.

“Max is good.” Charles said, and Esteban couldn’t really tell if he’s really awake or he constantly looks tired and out of focus.

“I’m not particularly fond of this one.”

The lion gave a displeased growl, but was visibly delighted to Charles’ response, proudly giving him a nudge, and Esteban thought he saw a smug smile on the lion’s face.

“I am.” Charles cuddled in closer, burying his face in the lion’s mane, giving it a slight kiss, drifting back to sleep again.

“Max is good, and he’s comfy.”

Before giving up the mission of bringing Charles back to the garage, Esteban thought for a brief moment if he could charge people for big cat experience, but decided he wouldn’t be making any money as Max would flip in a second and he’d end up paying more for lawsuits.

You’ll need certain skills to tame the cat. And Charles apparently has some.


	2. The Cheetah

Alex walked in the room to find Max sitting on the sofa, mindlessly scrolling through mobile, while a cheetah sprawled comfortably on his lap, squinting its eyes enjoying Max lightly scratching his head.

He knew there were people who would morph into animals, but he has never seen a cheetah around.

“Awwwwww I love cats.” Alex couldn’t resist his cat-lover nature, holding out a hand tentatively as the cheetah raised its head and sniffed a bit. The cheetah was friendly enough, stretching elegantly and leaned in to let him gave it some chin-tickling.

“I’m generally pretty good with cats. Oh my, and it’s so beautiful.”

Max raised an eyebrow, unimpressed and snorted.

As Max’s arm let go momentarily, the cheetah turned around, nudged in and playfully bit his neck, demanding more attention.

Amazed by the spots and fur patterns, Alex repeated “It’s really pretty.”

“It is. He is.”

As a show of statement, Max tilted his head and patted the cheetah’s bum lightly and lovingly. “He likes this. Don’t you?”

The cheetah purred and rolled on to his back on Max lap, tails curling around his wrist, showing its belly and nudging into the man’s embrace.

“You’re pretty close.” Alex said, not often those big cats would show intimacy with others, while essentially human, it still retained strong animal nature, and it’s not so common when one can scratch the belly of a cheetah.

Max only hummed in response, too focused in rubbing the cheetah and playing with its tail.

Alex shrugged and walked across the motorhome, and stopped abruptly as his eyes catching sight of a bright red shirt, tossed on the back of a chair.

“Why do we have a Ferrari kit here?”

Max didn’t even raise his head, spoke in flat and matter-of-fact tone. “It’s Charles’”

Looking around, Alex was pretty sure no one was allowed to enter the motorhome to disturb drivers, let alone rival from another team.

“Where’s he?”

Max didn’t say anything, just kept stroking the cheetah, tickling the big cat and fondly planting kisses.

_Argh of course_, how could he not see it, those tear lines and the dimples, and the overly intimate gestures between them.

Alex gets the hint, rolled his eyes and prepares his exit. “‘Kay, I’m out. You two have fun.”

“Oh we will.”

Max said with a massive grin, bowing down to bury his face in the cheetah fur, hearing the big cat purr lovingly and licking up his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just found those tear lines of a cheetah really fits Charles.  
Also, I cracked up when seeing tags like 'murder kitten' under Charles on Tumblr. that was really fun.


	3. How to keep your pet happy (team principals)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When F1 circus is a zoo; the team principals have their secret base outside the paddock where they’d finally be free to vent just about everything. The Formula pet shop.

“Argh, frustrated as always. I have a problem keeping my lion happy.”

It starts with Christian groaning. “It’s hard to throw him the right food to keep him satisfied.”

Mattia tiredly cleaning his glasses. “Easy for you. To cheer the lion up, you just need to bring it to Renault zone and get the honey badger to make a laugh, and things go smoother.”

Christian shot Mattia with a glare. “Your cheetah has been making a fuzz. Can’t you do something about it?”

“My cheetah is beautiful, sad, elegant and self-indulgent.” Speaking proudly, and slumped dramatically scratching his curly hair “He is getting a bit whiny though."

“And no, I haven’t figure out the recipe to tame it yet.” Out of desperation, Mattia had not be completely joking. “Or maybe I should lock him up with your lion and just have them fight it out.”

“They’re either going to tear the zoo down or they’re going to make out big time and create a new hybrid species.” Christian waved the idea away, rolling his eyes. “You don’t seem to worry at all, Toto.”

“Nope. My bulldog is content where he is.” Sipping his tea gracefully, making sure all tables were insured and unharmed, Toto smiled confidently.

"He’s very hierarchy-sensitive, so I got him his own pet, a gentle dalmatian, so that the bulldog will always be able to remain his rank, and reconfirm his blessed status to himself.”

“The dalmatian doesn’t fight back?” Mattia was intrigued, probably considering designating pets to his drivers.

“I have James take care of that.”

“Your bulldog never complains?” Christian cut in, remembering all the beeped out team radios of rant. “About strategies, parts or anything?”

“Oh he complains about everything. Very wordy.” Toto shrugged. ”But it’s vegan, so I don’t have much food problem like you.”

“What would you get him if he gets grumpy, emotional or unexpectedly depressed?”

“Then I throw in ‘Nico _Britney_ Rosberg’ into the cage as dessert. He’ll either jump the man or eat him alive and spit out his bones.”

Content with his perfect team management, Toto smiled. “Perfect solution to vent out his sexual and hunger frustration.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record (haha), I like VB77 and LH44, but just can't resist the "it's James" meme.


End file.
